Yes I have been Crocheting

 

Yes I have been busy with the crocheting over the last few months, but it has taken me a while to get used to taking photos with the new camera/phone thingy.

I couldn't get the blasted thing to work, no matter how I pressed the button. It would zoom in and out, and when it did deign to take a photo it would be dark or wobbly.

So eventually I asked Mike (feeling an idiot for not being able to get the damn thing to work when 'it is sooo easy!') It turned out I was stabbing the button too quickly! You have to let your finger rest a tad.

    So here we have the first offering, which is a yellow shrug/shawl using a 'pineapple' pattern which I really wanted to try. Graham had bought me several enormous balls of this bright yellow wool, so it seemed appropriate to try. 

    This is a pattern I found at The Spruce Crafts called Pineapple Doily Shawl. Now I went wrong a few times when I was trying this. There was much swearing and pulling back of the pattern. 

    I suspect I still didn't get it right as it seems much fuller than the illustration on the web site, but I think it turned out ok, and is definitely wearable.

This next one is a variant on a Boho style 'vest'. It is basically a round shawl with a couple of holes in you can poke your arms through. I couldn't find exactly the pattern I wanted, so I decided to have a go and see what happened.

One of the problems I have with most patterns is they are designed for skinny little lasses, and I am of generous proportions, so they are never going to be wide enough. But this one (modelled here by Graham) does fit and I am chuffed with it. It is mainly a sort of 'fishing net' pattern, lots of loops of chains, with the next row of chains joined to the middle of the previous row loop. Increasing was a bit of an experiment, but seems to have worked out ok.

This is one of my latest projects, a fun shopping bag, and is based on free patterns found at Attic 24.

There is a pattern for a Crochet Bag, which is lovely, but for me was a bit too big diameter at the bottom - and I think I might have been using too thick wool as well which made it even bigger. So I used the idea and made my variation on it. 

The bottom is nine concentric circles, then to make the sides, when you have got the bottom the right size for you, just crochet round without increasing, and you will make a tubular shape. I did increase slightly on a few rows as I wanted the top to flare out a little bit. The two handles are just strips 5 stitches wide, make them as long as suits you, and make them the same length (obviously).

I have decorated the bag with flowers which is another pattern from Attic 24, Triple Layer Flower. I made some flowers with just one layer, some with two and some with the full three layers of petals.

I found it surprisingly quick to make.

And just in time for the Platinum Jubilee I have been crocheting some decorations. So here we have a string of bunting made in red, white and blue. These are a very simple Granny Triangle and it took no time at all to make a pile of them which I joined together with a chain stitch ribbon

Finally I decided to have a go at a sort of Union Flag. Which actually turned out to be more fiddly than I expected. The central bit is Attic 24's Triple Layer Flower again, with the four arms made up of single colour flowers. For the triangular pieces I used the central part of a Triangle Motif from thechillydog.com The 45 degree red and white bands are my own bits of 4 stitch wide red ribbons, bordered by double crochet (English treble) on all sides

I know it isn't exactly oblong, but I think it gives a recognisable impression of the flag, which is what I was after.

So there you have it, a variety of crochet things, which were all fun to do - and I have loads more I want to have a go at!